This is not a meritocracy
I’m now 1 month to release. My interview with the lovely CM Rosens is live, and in a few days, I’ll be trawling around central London doing a proof drop, kindly organised by my publicist, Aoifke. This is when you visit bookshops, meet booksellers, and give them ARCs. It’s a way to pitch your novel (and yourself) to the bookshops that will be interested in stocking, and hopefully promoting, your book.
Although I talk a lot about social media promotion, there’s a whole different part to traditional publishing that happens offline. I remember the harrowing stories from authors who debuted during the 2020 lockdowns, how their books never took off and they were forced to relaunch when everything went back to normal. No one was outside and the bookshops were closed, which automatically dented their sales and in-person marketing efforts. Indie authors, for whom social media is their main channel of communication, thrived and went viral. It goes to show there is more to a book’s success than what you see happening online.
One mantra I’ve had to keep telling myself through this process is “just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening”. As I have a vested interest in debut trajectories, I’ve noticed that there are a number of books that are not buzzy online, that make no “most anticipated” lists, that aren’t featured in influencer videos, but they become Sunday Times bestsellers anyway. This is because their publisher was doing things behind the scenes, industry things that neither reader nor author have access to, to ensure these books were seen by the right people and given the right placement to bolster their sales. Some of these efforts are seen publicly (many of these would have had special editions, book boxes or Waterstones exclusives), but for the most part, the movements happen behind the veil.
With that said, the issues I raised in my Bookseller article seem all the more pertinent now that it’s been announced that a Booktokker who went viral a month ago has been offered a 2-book deal without having written a book. No gruelling query trenches, no constant submission rejections, no disappointment from the publishing machine. He has been handed his dream on a silver platter. And this is no criticism of the man in question – who wouldn’t accept such a life-changing opportunity? But as I said in my article: publishing is reactive (it seeks trends), risk averse (it avoids books that stray from trends), and lacks diversity (diverse books are consistently un-trendy). Therefore, only a certain demographic thrives within its culture. Traditional publishing is not a meritocracy.
I think my experience with traditional publishing has been a mixture of great and underwhelming, but I’ve been told this is pretty normal. A lot of things are happening with The Reaper unseen. I’ve been steadily climbing the Amazon charts, particularly in Horror Fantasy. There are booksellers that already know about me and I’ve seen them asking for proofs online. Friends and book influencers who are signed up to the Del Rey network have messaged me about the lovely writeups and ARC announcements they’ve received in their inboxes - and of course, my publicist has been consistently pitching me to national publications and events. However, I’ve also been forced to see the very public wins for the other books on my imprint - the preorder incentives, the book box deals, the foreign rights sales, the first edition exclusives - and wonder if I did anything wrong.
There is no one to blame for these things: a complex network of interdependent factors make decisions about books that are outside of the author’s control. At times it feels like the stakes are higher for me - I so desperately want to write this series to the ending I’d envisioned, but I need to prove its worth on a profit and sales level first, which of course adds pressure and makes it easier to make comparisons with other authors.
The past couple months have been so eye-opening for me as a chronically online debut author. I’ve seen (and joined) the discourse surrounding the plight of marginalised authors, and things are pretty bleak out there. Did you know that debut BIPOC authors struggle to get their books stocked by Barnes and Noble, the biggest bookshop chain in the US? For the past year, I’ve witnessed my fellow debuts of colour launch stressful preorder campaigns to counteract the policy, forced to prove their worth to a massive, soulless corporation. And what about bookstore placement? Why was Oathbound consistently shoved to the back of the shelves despite it being the third book of a #1 New York Times bestselling series? Why are Black series not given grace to grow and find their audience - the white male Booktokker mentioned above has signed a 2-book deal for a proposed 5 book series without a sales record.
However, I am grateful for the kindness of my publishing team and my community. In an industry that can be a bit of a minefield, I’m so glad that I’ve connected with so many veterans and fellow newcomers. Some of them have been incredibly generous in sharing posts of The Reaper on social media and offering advice on how to navigate the publishing world. It’s also nice to be validated in my feelings, and although there is much frustration regarding the disparity of publishing outcomes, it does lead to some healthy and productive movements: like Susan Lee offering to cover the merch costs for BIPOC debut authors, or authors and influencers getting together to boost the preorder campaigns of those who desperately need it.
So what have I learnt, one month till D-Day?
Gratefulness does not pay the bills. As authors we are advised against complaining. From the query trenches we’re told that agents don’t owe us anything because their reading our manuscript is “free labour”. When we get book deals we’re reminded that everyone is overworked and underpaid. The author’s free labour and workload are never acknowledged. Such sentiments reinforce the power imbalance and authors are made to feel like charity cases when we’re actually business partners. Our role is to write a good book and submit it on time. Their role is to sell it and give it the best chance of success. If one half of the business partnership is unhappy at any given time they have a right to raise it. Which leads me to:
Closed mouths don’t get fed. My not wanting to rock the boat or be seen as an “angry Black woman” stopped me from raising the alarm at key points when I probably should have. I had a great venting session with my agent the other day, and afterwards I wondered why I hadn’t done that more often. Just one conversation with her changed everything. Likewise, I’m sure that if I spent more time reinforcing my expectations to my publishing team (who seem open to collaboration) I probably would have had a more enriching experience. Instead I retreated into myself, worried that the reason for the setbacks was because no one from the industry even liked the book, when it was likely simply the case that I hadn’t discussed my ideas with them.
Reading too much into the front pages of social media will be your undoing. There are so many books being published each month, all with their own anticipating audiences. Sometimes I hear someone mention a book in passing only to find out it has thousands of online ratings, but it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of the thing. That’s because there are so many elements to selling a book and online marketing is but a fraction. Although you have every right to want social media attention from your publisher, don’t forget the importance of bookseller support. If in doubt, ask your team what’s happening on that front. And if you’re brave, ask for preorder numbers. If they’re low, ask them again what strategy they have in place to raise those numbers. They’re the publishing experts so they must have some idea. I recently took the plunge and asked my publisher for my preorder numbers and I was pleasantly surprised! And they were equally impressed! The email from (editorial assistant) Feranmi came just after I’d had a breakdown over some bad personal news, and I almost cried all over again when I read her words of encouragement.
Unfortunately, financial commitments brought on by a need to move house very suddenly means that I’m unlikely to host a launch event for The Reaper this summer. I’ll have to do something small for now and save the really grand event I had in mind in September or October. In the meantime, my motivation has picked up a bit for writing in general. I’ve written a horror/horrormance duology that I’m really excited about. These novels have given me something else to focus on and I’ve definitely fallen in love with the craft again. These books are much darker, more morally grey, and more blasphemous than anything I’ve written for the Gethsemane series. It’s been fun!
Here’s to a June and July of my dreams! Let’s make the most of it.
[As we’re getting closer to July I imagine there’ll be more things for me to talk about here, so there will be an slight increase in these posts to ensure I cover all the milestones]